Archiving systems (such as email-archiving systems) typically copy data elements (such as emails) from a source system to an archived system in order to conserve storage resources on the source system. For example, an email-archiving system may archive emails on a computing system that are more than one year old in order to free up the storage space occupied by these emails on the computing system.
Unfortunately, conventional archiving systems typically archive data elements without regard for their potential relationship to other data elements. For example, an email-archiving system may archive a first email in a conversation thread (if, for example, this email is more than one year old) without archiving a second or third email in the same conversation thread (if, for example, these subsequent emails are less than one year old). In this example, this may result in archiving and removing emails from an active email-conversation thread, potentially leading to user frustration.
Moreover, because conventional archiving systems typically provide a discrete link or shortcut to each archived data element, the number of links or references placed on a computing system for a single email-conversation thread may continually increase as additional emails are added to the conversation thread and later archived. As such, the instant disclosure identifies a need for systems and methods for improved archiving of related items.